Study
Finds Over One-Quarter of U.S. School Districts Adopt Plansto Restrict
Children's Exposure to Pesticides

While over 4,500 school
districts in 28 states, or 26.6% of 17,000 school districts nationwide,
impose requirements that their schools adopt methods to reduce children's
exposure to pesticides, the vast majority of school children go unprotected,
according to a new study released by Beyond Pesticides today. Despite
federal government efforts that urge the voluntary adoption of such measures,
the study finds that voluntary, as opposed to mandatory, state programs,
have failed across the board.

Washington, DC, January
6, 2003 - A new study, published by Beyond Pesticides in the latest issue
of the quarterly newsmagazine Pesticides and You, finds that without protective
federal or state law, the vast majority of school districts are unlikely
to voluntarily adopt safer school pest management and pesticide policies
and that state laws that only recommend their adoption are ineffective.

The study, Are
Schools Making the Grade? School districts nationwide adopt safer pest
management policies, documents the 10,108 school districts in
37 states that have taken some action to protect children from school
pests and pesticide use by adopting state and local polices that require
safer school pest management practices. The survey results show that 59%
of the 17,000 school districts in the United States, have adopted policies
requiring one or more of the following components: (i) establish an integrated
pest management (IPM) program; (ii) provide prior written notification
of a pesticide application; (iii) post pesticide use notification signs;
and, (iv) prohibit certain toxic pesticide applications.

Voluntary adoption
and state and federal recommendations to adopt safer policies do little
to get schools on the right track, according to Are Schools Making
the Grade? Of the 59% of school districts required to have such policies,
only 367 school districts and 16 individual schools have voluntarily adopted
policies that go beyond their state requirements.

The state of Indiana
serves as an exception to this finding, where 253 out of 289 school districts,
or 88%, have voluntarily adopted a policy that includes IPM and prior
notification of pesticide use. In this instance, the threat of a state
law proved to be highly effective in pushing school districts to adopt
such pest management strategies. In 2001, the Indiana legislature decided
that legislation would be put on hold pending adequate voluntary adoption
by schools. A model policy, developed by the Indiana Pesticide Review
Board with the input of child advocacy groups and school IPM experts and
approved by the Indiana School Board Association, continues to be adopted
across the state. Unfortunately, 12 percent of school districts are not
protected in the state.

Of the approximately
17,000 school districts around the country:

26.6% are required
to have an IPM policy;

43.1% are required
to provide prior written notification of pesticide use;

56.7% are required
to post pesticide use notification signs for either indoor or outdoor
applications;

18.9% have restrictions
on certain pesticides.

U.S.
School Districts With Key Pesticide Policies

School Pesticide
Provision

Required by
State Mandate

Adopt Provision(s)
Exceeding State Mandate

Adopt Voluntary
Policy (no state law)

Total Required
(state law + voluntary policy)

IPM

4,207 school
districts

0 school districts

315 school districts
+ 5 schools

4,522 school
districts + 5 schools

Prior Notification

7,076 school
districts

7 school districts

259 school districts

7,335 school
districts

Posting Signs

9,631 school
districts

14 school districts

3 school districts

9,634 school
districts

Use Restrictions

3,194 school
districts

11 school districts

30 school districts
+ 2 schools

3,224 school
districts + 2 schools

"While
it is reassuring to see so many schools adopt safer pest management policies,"
stated Kagan Owens, co-author of the study and program director at Beyond
Pesticides, "we are concerned about the number of children that are
not protected by a state or local policy and are unknowingly exposed to
the unnecessary use of pesticides. Even within those states and school
districts that have adopted a policy, there are still large gaps within
existing programs where children go without adequate protection."

"Considering
the amount of resources developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency and state Departments of Agriculture and state university extension
offices, it is surprising that more school districts are not voluntarily
adopting such measures," stated Owens. "This shows that while
the U.S. EPA recommends all the nation's schools adopt safer practices,
a simple recommendation does little to get schools to actually implement
these strategies. State and federal legislation is needed now more than
ever to protect children and facilitate schools adopt effective pest management
strategies that do not rely on hazardous pesticides."

"While schools
are held to the highest academic standards possible, schools falter with
regard to enforcing the highest possible safety standards," stated
Cortney Piper, co-author of the study. "Academic excellence cannot
be expected if children are not provided an environment that grants them
the ability to grow physically."

IPM is a program of
prevention, monitoring and control which offers the opportunity to eliminate
or drastically reduce pesticides at schools, and to minimize the toxicity
of and exposure to any products which are used. The schools highlighted
in the study prove that pests can be managed effectively and economically
without toxic pesticides through the implementation of a clearly defined
IPM program.

The study, published
in the latest issue of Beyond Pesticides' quarterly newsmagazine, Pesticides
and You (volume 22, no. 3), does not evaluate whether these policies are
implementing these policies. The findings of the study are based on Beyond
Pesticides' review of all state pesticide laws and local school district
policies and programs that go beyond their state law. The information
on school districts' policies was obtained from a survey of Beyond Pesticides'
network of activists, policy makers, PTA's, state extension agents, pest
management companies, and school administrators. Beyond Pesticides publicizes
school pesticide policies to educate the public on these critical issues.

According to the National
Academy of Sciences, children are among the least protected population
group when it comes to pesticide exposure and that EPA generally lacks
the data on children that is necessary to fully protect them. Pesticide
exposure reports show that pesticides can be harmful to people even when
used according to label directions.

Without a federal
law regulating school pesticide use, such as the pending School Environment
Protect Act, it is up to states and local school districts to provide
children the protection they need from hazardous chemical exposure while
at school. According to Beyond Pesticides' The
Schooling of State Pesticide Laws -2002 Update, thirty-three states
have taken some action to step in and provide protective action to address
pesticide use in, around or near their schools. These include a mixture
of pesticide restrictions and pesticide use notification. Because state
protection is uneven across the country, many local school districts have
adopted similar, and sometimes more restrictive, pest management polices.